Caldwell excited about Tide's chances

Monday

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2007 at 6:49 AM

Antoine Caldwell says Mike Shula was like a second father to him and that he still talks to him, but that Nick Saban is the best thing that's happened to the University of Alabama football team.During SEC Kickoff 2007 last week, the junior center said he had been really upset when Shula was fired and he had spoken out against that decision."He'd recruited me, really helped me," Caldwell said. "He did a good job talking to me and explaining it was just business."Coaches are expected to win games, especially at Alabama. And Caldwell said, "I feel like Coach Saban is going to put us in a better position to win."Caldwell said he'd followed Saban's career on television, that he'd seen him make grown men cry. When he heard he had been hired by Alabama, his first thoughts were "we've got something coming." But now he says it was probably the best thing that could have happened."Physically, we're in so much better shape; mentally, we're so much tougher than we've ever been. The whole scheme of how we do things is going to make this team so much better," he added."Coach Saban is more of an introverted kind of guy, but maybe that's what we needed. When he first got here it was hard to get a smile out of him; it was hard to get anything out of him. But now that we've got to know him a little bit, we realize he likes to make a joke and we can have some fun. That he will laugh and joke with us has been pretty good for us."Caldwell explained that Saban is building excitement and has everyone wanting to do something, but that he means business and everyone has to be accountable.He has installed a "peer intervention group" to deal internally with disciplinary issues that may come up on the team.Caldwell said, "If a guy messes up, we kind of decide his punishment in house. Of course, Coach Saban is the dictator, he will do what he wants, but he will listen when we bring the issues to him."The intervention group is composed of three player from each of the four classes plus three players at large. Cornerback Simeon Castille, who is also one of the 15 on the group, said, "You don't want to go in front of your peers and explain to them why you can't go to class."Caldwell and Castille both said they like this way of handling things. They also said they had no comment on the recent arrest of reserves Brandon Deadrick, Roy Upchurch and Brandon Fanney.Saban said they had been given things to do, and if they did them properly, they won't face suspensions; if they don't do those things properly, the consequences could affect their ability to represent the university on the playing field.Caldwell said the football players have worked hard during the off-season and are now ready to get the season started. He believes that the Tide will play at a higher level and that there is enough talent to win some big football games.He said last year's losses to Florida, Arkansas and Tennessee were not necessarily due to a lack of talent. He pointed out that to win, everyone on the team has to take care of his assignments on every singleplay. And that the new staff is instilling that accountability to this team.This year's team may look more complicated on offense, but actually it is more simple and there will be less pressure on the offensive line. Last year, Alabama tried to run power plays and the opponent would put eight or nine players in the box. This year, with more formations, trick plays, screens and wideouts on both sides, it will prevent defenses from stacking the line."You get Keith Brown and D.J. Hall out on one side, Mike McCoy and Michael Caddell out on the other side and I think it will take pressure off the offensive line," said Caldwell. "Do that and you won't see eight or nine defenders in the box. When we spread the field they will have to cover our playmakers."

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